Wonderland, Part Two
"Wonderland, Part Two" was the second issue of the Willow: Wonderland comic book series. Synopsis Willow and Marrak were running from the mother of the Hybberax that Marrak had killed previously. The Zen Caterpillar creature appeared to have had a latent magic coccoon that defended it from harm whenever it got attacked. While the Zen Caterpillar was being attacked, Willow cried out trying to warn it against danger, while Marrak ran away without care. Alas, Marrak got stuck in the roots of the nearby trees, and was forced in his turn to call to Willow for help. While Willow prepared a spell, the Hybberax bit Marrak, but before the hapless victim was killed, Willow caused the creature to explode from within, thus saving Marrak. Too bad the gore from the dead Hybberax's guts covered the Memory pool. The Zen Caterpillar was not amused. Before their host got too upset though, Willow used a purification spell to clean up the mess - and it turned out that her spell was segued with freshening up her clothes. Before long Willow was wearing spanking new outfit without a trace of the dead critter's blood. Yet when she offered to do the same cleaning/gore removal spell for Marrak - her companion refused the offer angrily, claiming that she had cast enough magic at him for the day. The Zen Caterpillar then suggested they leave, but offered Willow a cryptic mesage as a parting gift and reward for her care, stating that she will feel a very special kind of thirst at some point, and suggesting that they take a supply of now clean Memory Water with them. The other part of the message was less linear, and pertained to the path of righteousness employing dark gatekeepers, and energy being released by opposing forces. Willow admitted to not understanding the Zen Caterpillar's parting words properly - but was wise enough to listen to its advice and fill her canteen with Memory Water to carry on. And so Willow and Marrak continued on their path of following the divination spell path. On their way they were attacked by what appeared to be the demonic Blackbirds. When one touched Willow she experienced a hallucination of Earth and all her friends including Buffy, Xander, and Dawn, running scared, then plunging into a portal to Hell - and they all had no faces at all. Wllow was able to cast a lucidity spell on herself and wake up, to discover Marrak fighting back the Black Birds with fire. After defeating them, Willow talked to Marrak and he explained that what they experienced was other peoples persistent dreams detached from their dreamers. Marrak believed, and Willow agreed with him that the dreams of Earth people used to come to this world through The Void, but with all connections to the magic realms from Earth severed, the dreams could never return back, so they started to gather in groups forming flocks of nightmares. Marrak then admitted to having been caught not in a nightmare, but in a rather pleasant dream involving Nurses, from which he had freed himself nonetheless. He also joked that the dreamer of that particular dream would have wanted it back. They continued through foggy terrain and Willow explained that she imagined the path would lead them to the Deeper Well - or rather its equivalent in this world - that would be a focal magical point of the Wonderland. From there she hoped to open a portal back to Earth, thus causing a persistent flow of magic back. Marrak suggested that she needed a conduit rather than a simple portal, and that she would effectively be creating a new Hellmouth in the process, which would require enslaved demons to guard it. While talking betweent hemselves they suddenly heard a hissing sound. The creature who made this sound revealed herself as Aluwyn. Marrak was scared and cried out in fear and anger, but Willow and Aluwyn kissed, much to his surprise. Wilow then introduced Aluwyn as Saga Vasuki - 'the lying , deceitful, sexy snake' and her tutor of magical arts. To Aluwyn , Willow called Marrak as an 'OK' guy. Aluwyn had come with three other antropomorphic witches (a centaur, an blue angel, and a Poison Ivy look-a-like). The snake lady then suggested that Willow and Marrak might want to rest after their taxing journey and the centaur offered Willow a ride back to their coven, while Marrak grumbly complained that he is tired too, but was not offered a ride. They were brought to the Wellspring (Wonderland's Deeper Well). Aluwyn then again slily suggested that she and Willow needed to do a lot of catching up - and that therefore Willow needed to rest. In the mean time, all of the present otherworld witches - and they turned out to be many and all female - expressed their admiration of Willow, calling her Willow the Red, Slayer's Hex Mistress, and other honorifics. After some time have passed and the ritual of restoration was arranged a witch named Vulcana repaired the Scythe, with the help of an entire coven whom all cast the healing spell on it. Immediately, Willow tried to use a portal spell that she had prepared in advance to open a rift back to Earth. Through it the witch saw another vision of Buffy, Xander, and Dawn who were discussing some recent events, including Buffy cooperating with Dowling in slaying vampires, and Dawn making a joke about Buffy not dating him because he is alive. Alas, the rift closed up again too soon, but not before Willow saw that unlike all the others, in this new vision Dawn still had no face. Aluwyn explained that she and the other witched had tried similar spells, but that it was impossible to open a portal for long, because in order to create a steady portal, there had to be magic on the other side. And paradoxically, there could not be magic on the other side, without a portal. Continuity The story was set after "Family Reunion", but before "The Watcher". *When the Scythe was repaired it became entirely red, as it was first seen in Fray. *The scene Willow saw of Buffy, Xander, and Dawn gathered around was actually when they were discussing Robert Dowling in "Welcome to the Team, Part One". She explictly saw Dawn with no face, foreshadowing her fading from the world because she was made of magic ("Welcome to the Team, Part Three"). *Aluwyn was last seen in Last Gleaming. '' Appearances Individuals *Willow Rosenberg *Marrak *Zen Caterpillar *Aluwyn *Vulcana *Xander Harris (hallucination and visions) *Dawn Summers (hallucination and visions) *Buffy Summers (hallucination and visions) *Robert Dowling (only mentioned) Organizations and Titles *Scooby Gang (in hallucinations and visions) Species *Human *Unidentified demons *Hyberrax *Blackbirds *Slayer (in hallucinations and visions) *Vampire ( mentioned in visions) Events Locations *Wonderland *San Francisco (only in hallucinations) *The Void *Deeper Well *Hellmouth (only mentioned) *Wellspring Weapons and Objects *Scythe Death Count *One Hyberrax, blown up from the inside by Willow. Behind the Scenes Collections *Willow: Wonderland'' Pop Culture References *Willow referenced Hello Kitty. *Aluwyn called Willow the supreme witch of terra firma (Earth), which was a reference to Marvel's Dr. Strange who is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. *The centaur witch called Willow, Willow the Red, which was a reference to wizard naming conventions in Tolkien's Middle Earth works such as Lord of the Rings (i.e. Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, etc). *One of Aluwyn's companions looked like Batman villain Poision Ivy. *Aluwyn called the situation regarding not being able to open a portal a catch-22. Quotes nl:Wonderland, Deel Twee Category:Season Nine Category:Buffy comics